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J Bacteriol. 1968 December; 96(6): 1912-1914
Copyright © 1968 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Effect of Lysogeny on Serum Sensitivity

Department of Microbiology University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
Department of Bacterial Immunology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Washington, D.C. 20012

ABSTRACT

When Escherichia coli K-12 was infected with phage and mutants of characterized by the production of temperature-sensitive repressors, the lysogenic bacteria were significantly more resistant to normal serum than the uninfected organisms. Infection of E. coli K-12 with a lambdoid phage, 80, whose prophage attachment site is different from that of , did not result in a detectable change in serum resistance. Similarly, infection with certain Pseudomonas and Shigella phages caused no detectable differences in serum resistance. Finally, the well-known conversion of the Salmonella anatum serotype to S. newington by E¹⁵ phage indicated that, despite the relatively greater roughness of S. anatum, S. newington was more sensitive to normal serum than S. anatum. Thus, the effects of lysogeny on the sensitivity of bacteria to the bactericidal action of serum mediated by the complement system may be quite variable.